I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. While it was necessary with the storm system we had yesterday to have crews working the overtime to be salting and plowing our main streets, we never should have had the trucks involved in the rally around the Capitol.

We are checking our GPS and determining the what operators were involved and will be dealing with this.

While people are free to rally and support whatever cause they believe in, it should not be done at the expense of the taxpayers such as you and I.

Do we need any more proof that unions are utter thugs and psychopaths?

Only 60 - 65% are truly mentally unstable. The rest are smart enough to see an easy road and take it. All of them are taking money out of the pockets of every Wisconsin middle and lower class non-public union member.

The Union Thugs need a Thugs Union to represent them when workplace issues arise and to increase their Thug Pay Rate. Have you ever had a Boxer's Fracture in your fingers? They are the linchpin of all unionization and deserve special protection from the Union Bosses that hire them and want to dump them after they are used up.

Weren't all the unions always headed by mobsters? The entire enterprise is suffused with corruption. Killing Ann is simply to be expected. It promotes discipline. After all, it’s really none of her damned business.

"I receive a threat: "whoever video taped this has no life and needs to be shot in the head.""

Aw, come on Ann, this is all they have in their kit bag. If they can't threaten people with death what else do they have going for them. You certainly don't expect rational argument from these people,after all they are professional educators shaping the minds of the next generation.

This needs the widest amplification possible. Start with Glenn and I wouldn't be surprised if Drudge picks this up, then Fox, then maybe even the begrudging MSM acknowledgement. Let's get it out there.

I want to see this civility bullshit deep sixed. Let me be clear: I want the civility. I just want to see this bullshit left-wing "civility" bludgeon against the Tea Party get the complete ridicule it deserves. Bastards.

And these demonstrations for the last week in Madison by teachers who called in "sick" and took fraudulent doctor's notes so they could defraud the Wisconsin taxpayers and thought "We'll show 'em!!!" remind you of . . ..

Dammit! I want a death threat. That is so cool. I also wish I had no life. That would be bliss. Just imagine, you could spend your days wandering around the streets protesting and demanding stuff. Dreamy.

Stay safe, Meadhouse. I would imagine the real threat here is probably fairly low with this kind of thing, but still... Make sure it gets reported to the proper law enforcement people in addition to the blog storm.

Hopefully this will turn out to be an empty threat. If you can identify this person, he should be prosecuted.

In the early 70s my father and the rest of the family received numerous death threats over the phone due to war protest reported in the local newspaper including my father's name and address. I just told them, "Come on over, I have my gun ready."

I disagree that this constitutes a threat. Saying that someone needs to be killed isn't the same as threatening to kill that someone.

It might be if the speaker was someone with authority, for whom an expressed wish stood a good chance of being carried out by some toady within the organization. Coming from a random idiot on the internet, though? I'm pretty sure harsher death threats were leveled against Lady Gaga for that lame "born that way" song she just released.

The professor was all over this kind of internet free speech a few years ago:

"The comment is a general, aimless and inane suggestion posted on a message board known for its aimless inanity...""AK47" fights disclosure of his name in the suit by 2 Yale law students over nasty things said on the AutoAdmit website. (PDF of motion, discussed on the WSJ law blog.)

The "aimless and inane" thing AK47 wrote was: "Women named Jill and [Doe II’s equally common first name] should be raped."Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:12 PM 30 commentsTags: AutoAdmit, free speech, law, law school, lawsuits I hope will fail, pseudonymity, the web, Yale

once more we see the true colors of the monsters our trade unions (and Democratic party) degenerated into. Once forces for good, they have become deeply reactionary movements who believe the end justfies all means --- except that the end is now nothing more than maintaining the protection racket they've got going.

Julias could you be a bigger idiot? Can you really not tell the difference between a map targeting areas of ripe for electoral victory and declaring someone needs to be shot in the head? If not, you need to seek psychiatric care for a thought disorder. You attempts at justifying and rationalizing the statement are beyond stupid.

Not surprised. This is what happens when you expose the leftists for what they are. By interviewing those doctors on video, you showed the whole "It was a Breitbart setup" claims to be the lies they are. Then posting video of people being paid overtime to plow and salt instead using that time to engage in union political activism on the taxpayers' dime, well that's going too far. Both those thing were the right thing to do, and that means it is bad according to punks like brent- randomnumber.

A month ago, my friend and I were having a conversation while driving from Houston to Austin. I warned him and said, I think this teat-sucker vs. tea partier thing is going to come to head. When some group finds out that the government can no longer keep them high on the hog and another group tells them they're not paying for it, there will be violence.

He said - nahh. Won't happen. They'll never meet in the street. All that stuff happens out of the sight of the public. It will never go down like that.

Ann, welcome to the world of political blogging as this isolated instance of passive/aggressive lcd behavior towards you is the current reality ie norm in American politics.

ok, isolated instance/norm doesn't exactly go together lol but many people have been threatened by fools at political blogs as a keyboard in one's home/anywhere is kinda like road rage ie one's passive/aggressive personality can reveal itself under stress/anger. The internet enables/helps everyone to become totally detached from reality, if they are so inclined.

Hopefully this angry partisan is all bark, no bite and will not go postal.

Indeed, in many ways mass media has made the world of politics basically nonfunctional, eh as many libs/conservatives hate each other's guts!

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On a related note, speaking of civility having just surfed the Rasmussen thread, must compliment Jeremy/Jay/Fen on their calm, rational, intelligent discussion ;)

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And no, will not comment on whether you do or do not have a life ...

but if one spends all their free time on the net, you (((may))) not have a life!

I don't want to mischaracterize the professor's previous position, so I'm hoping she'll reconcile her present position with her previous ones. My impression is that she previously did not take seriously "threats" by internet blowhards that some third party should do something to a person.

While I don't condone the specific YouTube comment, I did look at that video where Althouse and her ultra-right-wing tea-bagging husband spent the day trailing salt trucks in order to get them in trouble for honking their horns in solidarity for a few minutes, and I thought, "What a no-life bitch", too. "Oh, I'm just documenting this" while making sure to note the truck numbers, hoping she'd get those drivers in some kind of trouble.

No one likes a snitch, Althouse.

Althouse has spent a week walking around the protests trying to find stuff to feed to the ultra-right propaganda blogs. To be fair, she did post one little message in the middle of all this where she confessed that, for the most part, protestors were remarkably polite and nice. A confession that most of her other converage was not fair-minded.

But she has sat back as ultra-right propaganda blogs have used all her other posts in order to paint the protests as a bunch of "thugs". Not one time has Althouse chastised a single one of these bloggers, who of course never linked to Althouse's tiny post about how, for the most part, everyone was extremely nice and polite. Althouse relies on these propaganda blogs for money, so of course she'll never criticize them.

Now Althouse wants to hype this YouTube comment up as some kind of real death threat, when she knows very well it wasn't and she is not even remotely worried that it was a real threat.

Get a life, law professor. And stop being such a tool to dispicable and lying propaganda blogs like Gateway Pundit and InstaPundit.

The combo of Althouse relying on links from ultra-right blogs for hits and money and her marrying an ultra-right ideologue caused her blog to go down the drain. There used to be diversity in her comments; now it's a bunch of ultra-right barbarians.

They do. For example, when the KKK remind their "lone wolves" that someone needs to be shot, the lawyers call them "co-conspirators" and "accessories to murder"

From the Wisconsin Criminal Code: "A true threat is a statement that a speaker would reasonably foresee that a listener would reasonably interpret as a serious expression of a purpose to inflict harm, as distinguished from hyperbole, jest, innocuous talk, expressions of political views, or other similarly protected speech."

One can reasonably interpret such talk by the KKK as a serious expression of a purpose to inflict harm. I don't think the comment that Ann quoted can be similarly interpreted.

My impression is that she previously did not take seriously "threats" by internet blowhards that some third party should do something to a person.

Your impression of her previous position is correct. It is your belief that she has changed that impression that fails to hold water. Has she said anything about notifying the police? Sleeping with a gun under her pillow? Anything that would indicate she considers this a serious threat?

She said she received a threat; arguably, she did. That's all she's said on the subject so far. It is the commenters here who are treating the threat as if it was serious, or at least pretending that they do.

Was it really that bad? Pictures of the actual posters and asking people what they meant?

What, precisely, was wrong with that?

I understand that what people are *accustomed* to is the news people ignoring the fringe loonies when it's something they support and show-casing the fringe loonies when it's, oh, a Tea Party. It might hurt to have your loons in the spotlight.

But the pictures weren't even that bad, or even the people acting stupid. It wasn't the *pictures*.

If you think it was the pictures instead of the simple fact that teachers took four days out of class (so far) to act like it was the end of the world when Walker is suggesting something relatively mild and not at all uncommon in other states... that's a fact even without pictures.

And REALLY the whole point of going out and protesting is to have people SEE you.

If you don't think that what people saw is helpful, that's not Althouse's fault.

This comment is at least as serious as that, and should be treated as serious. If the jerk was just talking out his ass, the attention from the police will be an opportunity for him to grow up and learn that he's responsible for his words.

Always take every threat seriously. Do not preempt professional judgment in evaluating this. Contact your local Law Enforcement and also the FBI. Given that this was an electronic and possibly interstate communication it should fall under the Federal jurisdiction. You are an intelligent lady and know the legal system but there is always the temptation to think such concerns are to irrational to effect you.

Please report this and do what is right for your safety and that of the public.

I really wonder what Althouse should have done to be more "fair" in Robert's little universe. I guess in his world, it's ok for public workers to go off duty to attend political rallies. The rest of us simply get our fucking asses fired if we did the same thing. Robert doesn't understand why Scott Walker was elected, nor the GOP given the majority in the legislature. It's all a big mystery to him.

It's an interesting thing, really, when opposition becomes defined as extreme simply because it's the opposition.

Thought of in a particular way it begins to make sense that limits on public employee unions that are common in other states as well as changes in employee contributions to health and pensions that are lower than many places become "dictator", "fascism" and "Hitler" and total end of the world as we know it when viewed through the assumption that any opposition whatsoever is extreme.

If it's all extreme then it really is all the same thing and getting your union but not your cake is the same thing, totally the same thing, as slavery and gas chambers.

After checking links posted by Grackle I agree with Kevin. This guy was either driving the salt truck or knows the driver well. This should change how seriously you take the threat. Perhaps not a shooting but if this results in disciplinary action expect to have your tires slashed or some other form of retaliation. His fellow plowers may target your car for burial next storm. Be alert. Do not post where your next isolated walk/ice adventure will take place. You felt you reacted poorly when confronted at protest. Remember, never show fear. Thugs sense fear and are emboldened by it. You would be surprised how many people back down when you look them in the eye and stand firm.

I did look at that video where Althouse and her ultra-right-wing tea-bagging husband spent the day trailing salt trucks in order to get them in trouble for honking their horns in solidarity for a few minutes, and I thought, "What a no-life bitch", too.

All the equivocating about this being no big thing misses the point. We were all told last month that the standards on this kind of thing were quite clear, and this kind of speech is beyond the pale. Even veiled indirect references lead to congresspeople being shot in the head, and this is much more than a veiled indirect reference. It is quite specific, even if it's "just the kind of thing some folks do".

Condemn it without weasel words, or STFU about incivility from now on. Enough.

Shiloh, that was a discredited report from someone wanting to hype his book sales. Yes, government agencies say crap like that to increase their funding. Has anyone published a book or made a movie about an assassination of Obama like your liberal buddies did about Bush?Why are you an apologist for this hater? Deal with your hate become is consumes you.

Speaking of wiki, another unintended consequence of Al Gore's er Tim Berners-Lee's WWW is the current WikiLeaks where, as it turns out, nothing is secure on the internet ~ shocking!

One's IP address can easily be discovered by a novice hacker/cracker ie all their confidential info.

And Google Earth has everyone covered!

Be afraid, be very afraid!

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Interesting when talking about "Big Brother" in the 1950's and Communist govts. that the U.S. govt. probably had more personal info re: "our" citizen's, than the U.S.S.R. had about theirs 'cause of our technology advantage at the time.

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PaulV

I'm dealing w/reality and not apologizing for anyone, many libs/conservatives at Althouse in constant need of said daily apologizing notwithstanding ... and speaking of hate consuming someone.

Shiloh, your ignrance is dangerous. The communists at that time, like all fascists, had the children informing on their parents and teachers. Your problems is that technology has improved so that MSM can not spike all the stupid behavior of your liberal friends, The interenet has expose them in all their horror. Ask DAn Rather who tried to utter forged documents handed 60 Minutes through intervention of DNC. Sucks for you to be exposed.

After further research, I called brent9613. His Mom answered the phone, and she was some kinda peeved! Says that he can't receive calls after 9pm on weeknights, and he's on resriction for two weeks anyway. Said that he's been playing on his Dad's computer again.

Like I said, she was really peeved. Don't call and get him in more trouble.

Disgusting, but I can't say I'm surprised. I'm amazed it took them so long.

I can tell you from personal experience that there will a subtle push back from some colleagues. Nothing overt, mind you, they are too sophisticated to engage you directly, but there will be an elephant in the room at times.

Roger L Simon lays it out. ...why has our left become so reactionary, so unwilling or unable to adapt to a changed world that they “act out” with all the juvenility of adolescents deprived of the family car keys? Some say it is because they have replaced religious faith with politics and I, an agnostic, see some truth in that. But there is more. Liberalism has become a mask for greed in our culture – a way of hiding excessive selfishness from others and, importantly, from the self. It’s a deflection, really....

Huge numbers are unemployed. But when asked to pull together for the good of the mean, the liberals, the ones who pay the greatest lip service to equality, say NO.

They hide behind “Union! Union! Union!” and “No pasaran!,” but it’s all a fake. When the chips are down, our modern liberals are overcome by their own sense of entitlement. Christopher Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism has infected them to such a degree reality cannot intrude.

Jesus, Ann, it's like you WANT some shit to go down. And the rest of you need to come to your senses as well. Quit trying to turn feelings (which is what was expressed) into actions - they're not the same thing.

Y'all ARE a bunch of cowards - and you will get someone killed by acting like it.

This Robert guy inadvertently makes minor history: when was the last time you had 'Down with the Man' drummers and chanters complaining about receiving attention?

Their minds are broken; this is like a 5 year-old throwing a tantrum and then asking for Time Out.

"Don't look at me! Don't look at me!"

I don't know if one can generalize from this guy's confusion, but it's interesting to do so. Just as their union cannot survive if required to behave democratically, apparently neither can their protest if said protest occurs in the open. What do they have against democracy and transparency?

Crack Emcee-- That's not a threat? If you're so sure about that, then why don't you write a letter to the editor saying that the President ought to be "shot in the head" and see whether a couple of guys in nice suits appear at your door.

Some of you appear to be overreacting. Heavily. She never said she wanted the commenter censored or arrested. In rather pointed Althousian fashion, she didn't say anything more than point it out and you all filled in the blanks.

And she's perfectly correct, it is a threat. It may not be very credible or serious in any way, but it's still a threat.

If you go up to a person and say "You should be shot," it's a rather incredible defense to say it wasn't a threat because you never said you wanted to be the shooter.

Personally I think it's funny that someone would think this way because Althouse posted a video. You know a person is a serious douchebag if he gets angry at the messenger.

You see, Robert, you're the kind of douchebag I'm talking about. You should be looking at the video and thinking "Wow, that's not right. No matter what the cause, city employees shouldn't be using gov't trucks like that."

But no, instead you get in a snit about Althouse because she's daring to report something that exposes a not-so-pleasant aspect of the side you support. Fuck, if this were rogue postal employees using trucks and whatnot to support a Tea Party protest, you would rightfully call for heads to roll. But hey, it's a union protest? "No one likes a snitch."

And that, Robert, is why you are an unprincipled douchebag. If you have any sense of integrity or honesty, don't bitch about Althouse; ask yourself, 'Would I be reacting the same way if she were instead exposing the bad behavior of the right wing?'

Crack Emcee-- That's not a threat? If you're so sure about that, then why don't you write a letter to the editor saying that the President ought to be "shot in the head" and see whether a couple of guys in nice suits appear at your door.

As someone who's had guns to his head, I say, no, that's not a threat - and Ann Althouse ain't the president with a secret service detail assigned to check out any possibility. She overreacted (or was trying to gin up blog numbers, as she does) but, whichever it was, it wasn't a threat.

How many people on this very blog - including myself - has said someone "needs _____"? But has anyone done anything? No. It's expressing a feeling - not threatening an action. To act otherwise is merely being a drama queen. Which is fine for Ann - wrong but fine:

For the dudes here, it don't speak well of your masculinity or your grip on reality.

we were reminiscing with an old friend we hadn't talked to in a while about the whereabouts of the brothers we grew up with, and, out of twenty (20) men, only four of us are still alive. Most of the others died from a gunshot wound to the head and - we guarantee you - not one of those bullets got there because a white man pulled the trigger.

A guy with the name "Shotgun" is this jumpy? I don't think you should be carrying, man,...

And when I said, "Which is fine for Ann - wrong but fine", I meant I can understand her feelings, but that's why the men around women are supposed to be men and, cooler heads prevailing, something like this should've been seen for the nothing throw away comment that it is.

The "wrong" here is - by letting Ann's version prevail (echoed by Glenn Reynolds, which is how I heard about it) this is precisely the way women get men killed.

A few hours ago we were all laughing at the "new civility" because we knew violent rhetoric didn't cause anything. Now, because something's said about Ann, it's battle stations?

If this comment had been posted by your typical limp beta male proggie then I could maybe see how it could be rationalized as non-threatening internet prattle. But seeing as it appears to come from a dull-witted and self-interested organized labor monkey, it does need to be reported.

Crack, If the comment was made by someone in California I would agree that it was a "throwaway comment". Based on other posting made by the same individual he may be the salt truck operator or a co-worker. That should change how you access the comment. Violent rhetoric doesn't make someone kill. Someone who feels you are f***ing with their job is another story. No, I do not think the commenter intends to shoot anyone. This was meant to let Althouse know not everyone is happy with her video reports. Depending on how things go at work some retaliation, most likely aimed at property might occur.

FLS, Ann's response to the comment is completely consistent with the pro-free-speech attitude she's always taken: she exposed it. She put it out there for everybody to see. That's the right thing to do with bad speech: expose it in the bright light and fresh air and send the little cockroach speaker scuttling for the darkness. If not for the "former" in your name, you might have been able to perceive that.

As for whether or not it's a threat, I'd say it falls, very carefully and precisely, just short of what might be a criminal threat -- the speaker apparently knew enough not to type, "I'm going to shoot you in the head." But it's threatening, nonetheless -- if it had been directed at, say, FLS or Julius, for something they'd posted under their real names, I bet they'd be checking their locks. What with the long, long history of union violence, and Ann's prominence in publicizing the protests during the last week -- it's close enough to the edge that I'm glad to see Meade's comment that they did report it.

And Shiloh, you really, really are an idiot. Did you not read Ann's posts about the protests? She has been careful to report the good as well as the bad: not just the dishonest doctors and the Hitler signs, but also the people working to keep the Capitol clean, the non-violent atmosphere, the "nice"-ness (her word) of the protestors. Do you think that only "hard-right extremist tea-baggers" or whatever your words were tell the truth? If so, why aren't you one? What is it about truth that you don't like?

That's the right thing to do with bad speech: expose it in the bright light and fresh air and send the little cockroach speaker scuttling for the darkness. [Shiloh], what is it about truth that you don't like?

Guys, the point isn't that this particular threat is anything to worry about. The point is that this is a much clearer and more violent threat than those the leftists have used developing their narrative that the right is violent. The simple fact that they make a causal connection between political speech and violence on the right but refuse to do so between their own rhetoric and far more direct threats proves their assertions politically based.

Garage is too stupid to figure it out, but maybe somewhere there's a thoughtful leftist who will. On second thought, probably not. But there are probably apolitical people who these points will help realize how flawed the leftist worldview is.

Gracious! It sounds like Robert is no life, online, cranky-pants himself. Goober.

Everyone's absolutely right about reporting it, Ann, but you're the professor, so I'm sure you knew that. Your reports from ground zero of the Battle of Madison have been much appreciated, but **sigh** were sure to engender SOME sort of retaliatory "anonymous" dickweed from somewhere running his mouth. Inevitable.

That's where your defenders spring into action, like they did here and track him down. Delightful.

Althouse said: I receive a threat: "whoever video taped this has no life and needs to be shot in the head."

It wasn't nice, but a threat? I don't think so.

Will someone rid me of this meddlesome Althouse!

Seriously, if this guy were in California or something I would probably say it was just nonsense, but since he seems to be in your neck of the woods, generally, I might at least get something on file. Although, since you've blogged it that probably counts.

Crack, If the comment was made by someone in California I would agree that it was a "throwaway comment".

Seriously, if this guy were in California or something I would probably say it was just nonsense,...

Now I really don't know what you guys are talking about because, if this was happening in Cali, not only would I be more worried but - more likely than not - they'd already be at Ann's house, demanding she give 'em the computer passwords while strangling Meade with a Whole Foods bag. West Coast don't play. East Coast don't either. As the old saying goes:

"The strong move quiet/the weak start riots,..."

It's amazing:

Y'all out there, causin' trouble and talkin' shit, but you don't know any of this stuff. You're like kids.

Is it good to report it? Sure, but I wouldn't call it a threat (the cops are probably laughing at you) and I'd be much more concerned for Scott Walker and his family, because the Left has already crossed all kinds of ethical lines in response to his doing what he was elected to do. Bringing his kid into it, calling in "sick", the "doctors", making the kids join them - their entire process and position has been wrong. They rightfully deserve to be fired, but, as I've said, y'all''s playing "Grown-Up" - you ain't there yet.

It's nice to finally see y'all all dressed up, though, sliding around in Mommy and Daddy's big ol' shoes.